Snapshots of a glorious past flash before glazed eyes. Lifting of four World Cups, four Champions Trophies, three Asia Cups, an impressive tally of Olympic gold medals ...

The adrenalin begins to flow, the pulse quickens. Just then, the bubble bursts and the gloom sets in. The rapidly deteriorating scenario blurs the glorious days of yore and pretty soon, there's only hopelessness and despair in the air.

As is evident, for several years now, the national sport of hockey is dying. The two recent setbacks — the Beijing Olympics disater and the World Cup debacle — have convinced many that the situation is beyond salvation.

However, the so-called custodians of the game are now up in arms, claiming every right to govern the national game. On one side we have the majority of Olympians and Internationals forming their group that is bent upon overthrowing the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) top brass while on the other there is the splinter group created by the federation itself which is functioning as its mouthpiece.

The Olympians at first declared all-out war on the federation's young secretary Asif Bajwa, but now the lasso has also been thrown around President Qasim Zia's neck for supporting Bajwa.

On one hand we have Olympian Islahuddin Siddiqui, arguably the most successful hockey captain that the country has ever had, screaming himself hoarse in a bid to capture the attention of the sports minister, the prime minister and the president of Pakistan to take action. There is also Olympian Shahnaz Sheikh, coming out with a report of his own even before the team's coach and manager submitted theirs, highlighting the various reasons for the debacle. It is titled “The paradise we lost in 2010 Hockey World Cup in New Delhi”.

The soft-spoken 'Flying Horse' Samiullah, Qamar Zia, Rasheed-ul-Hasan, Shahbaz Ahmed Senior, Ayaz Mahmood, Khalid Mahmood, Waseem Feroz, Saleem Sherwani, Saeed Khan, Arif Bhopali et al calling themselves “the stalwarts of hockey” coming forward to present their view of what has brought the game to its current state.

All have their theories with a common bottomline — sack Asif Bajwa. But between the lines, you can make out the real reasons for this bottled up anger; because they were labeled “old model cars”, were not recommended to the FIH rules and regulation committee, are not being offered lucrative posts within the PHF, etc. Still, the media is led to believe, amid repeated clarifications, that it's not at all a case of sour grapes.

Buoyed by the success of their previous 2008 campaign to oust the then PHF chief Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali, the road show of the Olympians moves from city to city to remind the nation of their contributions to the sport that brought so much honour for the country in the past. But this time, if it is respect they are looking for, they are unlikely to get it or meet with success.

They looked far more impressive when taking to the field after so many years in the form of a united Olympian side taking on the Pakistan juniors when the Indian junior team turned down Pakistan's invitiation at the 11th hour. Qasim Zia was also the president then and Bajwa his secretary, but the Olympians seemed to have no problem with it then.

No one can deny their greatness on the field, but having had their chance to serve within the federation in various capacities over the years without effectively lifting the game, they have proven themselves as complete klutz as far as the administration work goes.

Not supported by solid administrative reasoning, their demands have already fallen flat with the people in power. They also have no alternate plan to turn the situation around. “We'll discuss that after our demand is heard,” is what they invariably say as they go about making noise.

In contrast, other than holding a press conference or two to give a platform to their own group of former players, the PHF has remained silent. After sacking the team management and selection committee, Qasim Zia has shown full support for his secretary. The Olympians, however, argue that his sacking of the team management proves his lack of confidence in manager Bajwa. And if he has no confidence in his work with the team, how can he approve of him as the federation secretary?

Well, for starters, they are two separate things involving different kinds of work. The silence that Bajwa has maintained so far says a lot for the kind of person he is. It takes a lot of restraint to sit back and take all the criticism constructively while looking ahead positively towards future challenges. He may realise sooner or later that when all the debris is falling on you, you are obviously on the wrong side of the fence. But that hasn't happened with him as yet.

To give credit where it's due, it was Asif Bajwa's plan of finding and grooming talent at the grassroots that has paid dividends in the form of the Pakistan's Under-18 team bagging the Junior Hockey Asia Cup last year and the Under-23 team taking the South Asian Games hockey title this year.

He may be high-handed in his behaviour, perhaps to the extent of being snobbish, but he is certainly not beating about the bush and has a definite strategy to bring the game back on track. His opposition, in comparison, appears to be a confused lot, seeking revenge more than anything. They may be great in number but awfully short on planning. As the old phrase goes, “too many cooks spoil the broth.”